State Benefits Portal Modernization
# Pricing and SLA Exhibit RFP Reference: DSS-2024-0041 Project Title: State Benefits Portal Modernization Issuing Agency: Department of Social Services Document Type: Pricing, Payment, and Service Level Exhibit Release Date: Apr 27, 2026 Response Deadline: May 14, 2026 --- ## Page 1 - Pricing Instructions The Department of Social Services is requesting a complete cost proposal for the State Benefits Portal Modernization project. The cost proposal must cover the full modernization scope described in the RFP, including project planning, configuration, integration, testing, training, production launch, transition support, and post-launch stabilization. The Department requires vendors to submit one complete cost proposal. The Department will not accept an hourly-rate-only proposal as the primary pricing response. Vendors may include hourly rates for optional services, future change orders, or out-of-scope work, but the required modernization program must be priced as a fixed-fee implementation. The Department expects pricing to be clear, complete, and comparable across proposals. Vendors must identify the proposed fixed fee, milestone billing schedule, staffing assumptions, pricing assumptions, optional costs, exclusions, service level assumptions, and any exceptions to the pricing instructions. The Department recognizes that public-sector modernization projects may depend on agency system access, agency staff availability, legacy documentation, integration credentials, test data, production readiness windows, and third-party managed-service provider cooperation. Vendors should state all such assumptions clearly. General statements such as “pricing depends on discovery” are not sufficient unless accompanied by specific assumptions and practical pricing explanations. The cost proposal must include all ordinary and customary activities necessary to complete the modernization effort, including: - Project kickoff and discovery. - Requirements confirmation. - Portal configuration. - Eligibility workflow modernization. - Payment status workflow modernization. - Household-record update workflow modernization. - Case-worker queue modernization. - Citizen account access workflows. - Document upload workflow support. - Administrative reporting support. - Legacy mainframe integration support. - Payment status service integration support. - Data mapping and transition support. - Functional testing. - Integration testing. - Accessibility review support. - Security readiness support. - User acceptance testing support. - Training materials. - Production launch support. - Post-launch stabilization. - Status reporting and project governance. The Department may reject a cost proposal that omits required cost information, conditions pricing on undefined future discovery, excludes ordinary implementation activities without explanation, or prevents the Department from evaluating the total cost of the proposed solution. Vendors must submit pricing in United States dollars. Prices must remain valid for the period stated in the RFP unless the Department authorizes a different validity period in writing. --- ## Page 2 - Fixed Fee The modernization program will be contracted as a fixed fee of $4,800,000. The fixed fee is inclusive of all deliverables, integrations, transition activities, training materials, launch support, and post-launch stabilization required for the State Benefits Portal Modernization project. The fixed fee must include the vendor’s cost to perform the work described in the RFP package. The Department does not intend to pay additional fees for work that is reasonably required to complete the stated modernization scope unless the Department approves a written change order. The fixed fee includes, but is not limited to: - Project management. - Delivery leadership. - Technical leadership. - Implementation analysis. - Solution configuration. - Workflow configuration. - Integration planning. - Integration implementation support. - Data mapping support. - Testing support. - Training material preparation. - Production readiness support. - Launch support. - Stabilization support. - Required status reporting. - Required documentation. - Required coordination with agency staff. Vendors may identify assumptions about agency responsibilities. Such assumptions may include timely agency participation, availability of subject-matter experts, access to existing technical documentation, access to integration environments, availability of representative test data, availability of security contacts, and timely review of submitted deliverables. The Department expects vendors to account for ordinary implementation risk in the proposed fixed fee. Vendors should not assume that unclear, ordinary, or foreseeable implementation tasks will automatically result in additional payment. If a vendor believes that a requirement cannot reasonably be included in the fixed fee, the vendor must identify the exclusion clearly. The vendor must also explain the reason for the exclusion and the expected pricing impact if the Department requires the excluded work. The fixed-fee amount of $4,800,000 is intended to provide predictable pricing for the Department while allowing vendors to propose a complete delivery approach. The Department will evaluate whether the proposed price is reasonable in light of the technical approach, staffing plan, schedule, public-sector experience, and risk assumptions. --- ## Page 3 - Milestone Billing The Department anticipates milestone billing. Milestone billing will be permitted only after the Department reviews and accepts the applicable milestone deliverables. The proposed milestone billing schedule should align with the following delivery sequence: 1. Project kickoff and discovery confirmation. 2. Design approval. 3. Integration readiness. 4. User acceptance testing readiness. 5. Production readiness. 6. Production launch. 7. Post-launch stabilization completion. Vendors may propose an alternate milestone structure if the alternate structure better supports the proposed delivery approach. Any alternate structure must be clearly explained and must preserve the Department’s ability to confirm progress before releasing payment. Payment will not be released solely because a date has passed. Payment depends on Department acceptance. The Department may withhold milestone acceptance if required deliverables are incomplete, required documentation is missing, testing has not been completed, security materials are incomplete, training materials are not available, or production readiness requirements have not been satisfied. Milestone deliverables may include, as applicable: - Project schedule. - Governance plan. - Requirements confirmation. - Design confirmation. - Integration readiness plan. - Data mapping documentation. - Testing plan. - Security readiness documentation. - Accessibility review evidence. - User acceptance testing materials. - Training materials. - Production readiness checklist. - Launch support plan. - Stabilization report. The cost proposal must identify the dollar amount associated with each proposed milestone. The Department prefers milestone payments that are proportional to completed work and accepted deliverables. The Department may require additional clarification if milestone descriptions are vague, if payment percentages appear front-loaded, or if the proposal does not provide sufficient information to determine what the Department receives at each payment point. --- ## Page 4 - Service Level Credits The selected vendor will be required to support service level commitments after production launch. Service credits of up to 15% of monthly fees shall apply in the event of a service level breach as defined in the final SLA schedule. Service credits will be applied to the following invoice period unless the final contract provides a different crediting method. The credit calculation will be based on the affected service period, the documented service impact, and the applicable SLA category. The vendor may propose clarifying language for exclusions. Exclusions may include scheduled maintenance, emergency maintenance, force majeure events, Department-caused delays, Department network outages, unavailable agency systems, third-party service disruptions outside the vendor’s reasonable control, or disruptions caused by Department-controlled infrastructure. The Department will evaluate proposed exclusions for reasonableness. Exclusion language must be specific. The Department may reject broad exclusion language that materially reduces the value of the SLA or makes service commitments difficult to enforce. Service level commitments may include: - Production availability. - Incident response time. - Priority incident escalation. - Defect response. - Support communication. - Status update frequency. - Root-cause analysis timing. - Corrective action tracking. - Launch stabilization response. Service credits do not replace the vendor’s obligation to remediate issues. If a service level breach occurs, the Department may request a service impact report, root-cause analysis, remediation plan, and evidence that corrective actions have been completed. If the proposed solution depends on Department infrastructure, Department identity systems, legacy mainframe availability, Department network controls, payment status service availability, document repository availability, or third-party managed-service provider cooperation, the vendor must describe how those dependencies affect service level commitments. The Department expects the vendor to maintain practical monitoring, alerting, incident management, and escalation procedures for the production environment. Vendors should describe how service level performance will be measured, reported, and reviewed. --- ## Page 5 - Pricing Assumptions and Dependencies The cost proposal must identify all material pricing assumptions. Assumptions must be specific enough for the Department to understand what conditions are required for the vendor to perform within the proposed fixed fee. At minimum, vendors should address assumptions concerning: - Agency subject-matter expert availability. - Agency project sponsor availability. - Agency decision-maker availability. - Legacy mainframe documentation. - Integration interface documentation. - Test credentials. - Production credentials. - Test data. - Data mapping support. - Security review contacts. - Privacy review contacts. - Accessibility review expectations. - Managed-service-provider support. - Production launch windows. - Scheduled maintenance windows. - Department review timelines. - Procurement clarification responses. - Change control procedures. - Limits on customization. - Limits on data migration. The Department will provide available documentation after award. The vendor should not assume that the Department has complete, current, or vendor-ready documentation for all legacy systems. Vendors should explain how they will manage discovery, documentation gaps, interface questions, and technical dependencies within the proposed schedule and price. If any portion of the fixed fee depends on unresolved scope, third-party access, legacy system availability, or Department-controlled activities, the vendor must identify the assumption and explain the effect on price, schedule, and deliverables. Optional costs must be listed separately. Optional costs may include post-stabilization enhancements, extended support, additional training sessions, additional reports, additional integrations not described in the RFP, custom analytics, additional data migration tasks, long-term managed services, or future modernization phases. The Department may reject a proposal that materially conditions the fixed fee without explanation or shifts ordinary implementation responsibilities to the Department through unclear assumption language. --- ## Page 6 - Cost Proposal Format and Required Elements The cost proposal must be organized in a clear and reviewable format. Vendors should use headings, tables, and explanatory notes as needed. The cost proposal must include the following elements: 1. Total fixed fee. 2. Milestone billing schedule. 3. Deliverables included in each milestone. 4. Staffing assumptions. 5. Implementation assumptions. 6. Integration assumptions. 7. Security and privacy assumptions. 8. Testing assumptions. 9. Training assumptions. 10. Launch support assumptions. 11. Stabilization assumptions. 12. SLA credit assumptions. 13. Optional costs. 14. Exclusions. 15. Exceptions to pricing instructions. 16. Agency dependency assumptions. The total fixed fee must be stated as $4,800,000. If the vendor proposes any exception to that structure, the exception must be clearly labeled and explained. The Department is not required to accept pricing exceptions. The vendor must identify whether the fixed fee includes all integrations described in the RFP package. The vendor must also identify whether pricing assumes specific limits on interface complexity, data mapping complexity, legacy system cooperation, testing cycles, or production launch support. The Department may request clarification if pricing is ambiguous. However, the Department is not required to allow vendors to correct material omissions after submission. The cost proposal should be written so that evaluators can determine: - What is included. - What is excluded. - What depends on agency action. - What may require a change order. - How milestone payments align to accepted deliverables. - How service credits may affect monthly fees. - How the proposed price supports the implementation schedule. The Department reserves the right to reject cost proposals that are incomplete, materially conditional, inconsistent with the RFP, or not in the best interest of the State.